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Comment by trome | Hacker News Reader

How has it been coordinated? Most of these things, like worker harassment which was reported on twice, once perpetrated by a childish CEO who is still in charge, is self inflicted. Travis didn't have to join Trump's Tech Advisory Committee either, that was a choice he made.

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Around twenty people signed on to Trump's advisory committee, many of them very well-known figures in the tech and manufacturing industries.

How many others, besides Kalanick, can you name off the top of your head?

Thought so.

> Around twenty people signed on to Trump's advisory committee, many of them very well-known figures in the tech and manufacturing industries. How many others, besides Kalanick, can you name off the top of your head?

Given the volume of comments mentioning their role in the committee I've seen on HN, I'd say that HN users are probably at least as likely to know about Elon Musk being on the committee (and unlike Kalanick, staying on it.)

And Musk and Kalanick are the two that have been high profile media figures as part of startup media strategy; most of the rest are big blue-chip finance and manufacturing CEO, who despite leading more powerful firms, normally have lower media profiles.

Yeah, Elon Musk is the only one I could personally recall besides Travis Kalanick, without looking at an article listing the other members.

Not a lot of people seem upset about Musk's presence on the committee, or about anyone else's for that matter.

Funny. I'm sure it's all just a coincidence, or karma, or a spontaneous self-organizing feeding frenzy, or something.

Musk has gotten quite a bit of flack (in general and on HN specifically) about it; now, unlike Kalanick, he defended the decision and stick with it rather than resigning on the eve of the first meeting.

Now, Kalanick actually managed to draw more attention by creating additional news by his dramatic resignation, but as far as criticism of the initial decision, I don't see any evidence he was treated differently than Musk; often, the two were mentioned together in both news articles and criticism.

OK, so let's say Musk and Kalanick have received a similar amount of flak for associating themselves with the Trump committee. First, that's not even remotely true (and no, I can't be bothered to perform a statistical survey, at least not for free); and second, it would obviously be counterproductive for qualified industry figures to turn down an opportunity to make their voices heard in government, regardless of any other controversies the President may be embroiled in at the moment. Criticizing people merely for taking an interest in their government's policymaking process is absurd.

So. What about the other 18 members? Why isn't anyone on HN or elsewhere attacking them?

> What about the other 18 members?

There are 17 other members.

> Why isn't anyone on HN or elsewhere attacking them?

HN specifically has a tech-industry-startup focus, plus the other people are exactly the kind of people you'd expect to be supporting an authoritarian corporate plutocrat. Their role is a dog-bites-rabbit story.

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